If it's new on the web site, you'll find it on one of our announcement pages! Different topics will be of interest to you throughout your Marine's career. Chose from the categories of Marine Parents' web sites to the right. The most recent announcements will be at the top.

Be sure to sign up for our twice-monthly newsletter to get additional updates and news. There's a signup box at the bottom of every page of the web site.

Cabbie CuisineAdded June 27, 2014

Family Day is a busy day. To save you time deciding where to eat with your Marine, we're compiling a list of dining options in the Parris Island area.

At this time, Team Marine Parents still has 24 bibs available for the 2014 Marine Corps Marathon. Each bib costs $110 and requires you to join Team Marine Parents and pledge to raise $500 for the Marine Parents outreach program of your choice (one of the smallest minimum fundraising requirements among all Marine Corps Marathon charity partners).

Congratulations to 3rd Battalion India Comapny of Parris Island, as well as 2nd Battalion Fox Company of San Diego for graduating boot camp Friday, June 13, 2014. A big ooh-rah goes out to all of you!

President Obama Nominates New CommandantAdded June 5, 2014

Today, Thursday, June 5, 2014, President Obama nominated General Joseph “Fighting Joe” Dunford as the next commandant of the Marine Corps. Dunsford, currently in command of coalition troops in Afghanistan, has served as an infantry officer for 37 years, since he was commissioned in 1977. Pending a Senate confirmation, Dunsford will relieve current Commandant Gen. James F. Amos this fall, who will be retiring after 43 years in the Corps.

Our Corps Kit™: Poolee Presentation Kit is intended for use on a display table during Parents and Poolees functions put on by your local Marine Corps recruiting office.

The kit includes everything you need to spread the word about the Marine Parents outreach programs specifically for Recruit Parents during boot camp, including RecruitParents.com, Recruit Chat Night, and Marine Family Network. The kit includes display holders for the brochures for display during the parent and poolee events.

At your Marine's graduation, if you would like to identify yourself as a visitor and participant to www.MarineParents.com web site, you can print a www.MarineParents.com Badge to wear. You've earned it and you can meet other parents who have visited the site, contributed to the site, and shared on the message boards.

When parents learn that their sons or daughters have enlisted in the Marine Corps or are contemplating enlisting they sometimes go into the “This can't be happening” mode – particularly those with little or no military familiarity. An infinite number of questions immediately arise and sometimes there are no answers. Often there is a modicum of introspective soul-searching. Then the quest for facts and information begins. Fortunately, most recruiters by now know that connecting future Marine parents to MarineParents.com can be extremely beneficial and informative. Once connected, anxious and sometimes bewildered parents can take pleasure and reassurance in knowing that they are not alone and they have the backing and support of thousands of MarineParents.com volunteers and others who have gone down that same uncertain pathway that leads to the making of Marines and beyond.

For approximately the next 12 months, there will be renovation construction that will limit the number of rooms available for recruits' parents at MCRD San Diego. Currently, MCRD San Diego is limiting the number of persons per recruit to a maximum of 4. This will remain in effect until they have their full inventory of rooms back. Please continue to call to see if space is available for your recruit's graduation. MCRD San Diego wants to make every effort to allow as many parents as possible to see their recruit graduate. Your patience during this time will go a long way in allowing as many parents as possible to experience staying on base.

Every Marine Recruit’s journey begins with recruit training, and the same is true for the Corps’ newest, youngest Recruit, Recruit Chesty XIV. Recruit Chesty is unique, however, in that he will be the only Marine in the Corps with his MOS—that of official Marine Corps mascot.

After being chosen as the Corps’ new mascot in February, Recruit Chesty, then a nine-week-old English Bulldog, went through obedience school and “recruit training” under the watchful eye of his Drill Instructor and predecessor, Sergeant Chesty XIII, who is retiring after five years as the Corps’ official mascot, and is expected to earn the title of Marine in a public ceremony today.

According to the Marine Corps’ website, as the official mascot, “Chesty’s responsibilities will include marching in the Friday Evening Parades and supporting various events around the National Capitol Region” and like all Marines will be held to a high, professional standard, as Sgt. Chesty XIII knows all too well, having been busted back in rank on at least one occasion during his time as mascot.

English Bulldogs became the Marine Corps’ unofficial mascot in 1918, when a World War I recruiting poster showed a snarling English Bulldog in a Marine Corps helmet, and have been the Marine Corps’ official mascot since Brigadier General Smedley Butler signed the enlistment documents of an English Bulldog named Jiggs in 1922. Since 1957, every mascot has been named Chesty after Lieutenant General Lewis “Chesty” Puller, the most decorated Marine in history.

A poolee is an individual who has already signed up to become a Marine but has not yet left for the 13 weeks of recruit training at boot camp. Every spring, Marine Corps recruiting stations around the United States hold "Poolee Night" to bring poolees and their parents together to learn what to expect and how to prepare for boot camp. Parents of recent graduates and parents whose sons and daughters are currently in boot camp can lend support and share information with the newest group of recruit parents. To help facilitate this sharing of information, the Corps Kit: Poolee Party kit is available for free.

Beginning with the February 3, 2012 graduation, families of Recruits will be welcome to attend the new Family Orientation Day on the Wednesday prior to graduation. This wonderful opportunity will allow families to experience firsthand the journey their soon-to-be Marine is on, as well as learn important information about the Marine Corps.

Attention Marine and recruit families! The message boards of Marine Parents, Recruit Parents and What’s after Boot are moving to a new platform that allows greater opportunity to share with one another.

Marine Family Network is an online community that keeps all of our Marine families in the same interface for the duration of their Marine’s career in the Corps. The migration to the new platform is under way. The current message boards will close by early June 2011.

The Marine Parents outreach program, Purple Heart Hero Support, is in the running for a $250,000 Pepsi Refresh Project grant and we need your vote to win the competition!

With the Pepsi Grant, we will be able to turn our 200 meals a year served in 2 hospitals into 20,000 meals served a year in 4 hospitals. There are many great ideas out there, but who could be a more worthy recipient than our Wounded Warriors and their families?

The organization MarineParents.com, Inc. discourages any interference with recruit training. We want to remind you not to take photos on family day or graduation of other recruits in training.
Click here to read more...

November Session for Parents & Extended Family MembersAdded October 8, 2009

L.I.N.K.S. - brought to you by Marine Corps Family Team Building – recognizes that for many of our Marines, their parents and extended family members play a major role in their lives, providing them both support and advice.
Learn more about the upcoming LINKS event,Click here...

The Recruit Parents Newsletter is Here!Added July 20, 2009

If you have a son or daughter leaving for a Recruit Depot soon or in boot camp now, or if you’ve always wanted to learn more about Marine Corps recruit training, you definitely want to sign up for our Recruit Parents Newsletter.
Click here to learn more...

News Concerning the H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu)Added April 30, 2009

Letter from the Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Base Camp PendletonWith the recent news concerning the H1N1 Flu Outbreak, I want to assure service members, their families and civilian personnel that live and work aboard Camp Pendleton that the Base continues to monitor and prepare for any potential health risks associated with this virus. Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton has ample medications available and the Base is well prepared should a health risk arise.
Click here to read full letter...

No Bus RalliesAdded November 22, 2008

The organization MarineParents.com, Inc. discourages any interference with recruit training, including but not limited to attendance at pep rallies or bus rallies, sending care packages to recruits, attendance at Sunday services with recruits, and/or attendance at any public function recruits as a group may be involved with as a platoon or company outside the normal Family Day and Graduation Ceremony held at MCRD.
Click here to read more...